{"id":96019,"date":"2025-02-20T13:44:34","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T18:44:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/?p=96019"},"modified":"2025-02-20T14:04:48","modified_gmt":"2025-02-20T19:04:48","slug":"rangers-kumar-rocker-rotation-spot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/2025\/02\/20\/rangers-kumar-rocker-rotation-spot\/","title":{"rendered":"Former Top-Five Draft Pick Could Force His Way Into the Rangers Rotation"},"content":{"rendered":"

With right shoulder and Tommy John surgeries behind him, Kumar Rocker showed why the Texas Rangers made him the No. 3 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. The former Vanderbilt star reclaimed his wipeout mid-80’s slider while working with a 95-98 mph fastball that touches 100. He dominated in the minors, posting a 1.96 ERA and a stellar 55\/5 K\/BB ratio over 36 2\/3 innings before making his big debut in September<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Now, as part of MLB.com\u2019s spotlight<\/a> on intriguing prospects vying for Opening Day roster spots, Rocker stands out. His talent is undeniable, but his opportunity isn\u2019t guaranteed. With three of Texas\u2019 projected five starters\u2014Jacob deGrom, Tyler Mahle, and Cody Bradford\u2014combining for just 99 2\/3 innings last season, Rocker could force the issue this spring.<\/p>\n

Kumar Rocker’s Opening Day Chances<\/h2>\n

Rocker\u2019s journey to the majors has been anything but conventional. After being selected No. 10 overall by the New York Mets in the 2021 MLB Draft<\/a>, he was not offered a contract due to medical concerns. Rocker posted a 3.86 ERA in his brief MLB stint, allowing five earned runs in 11 2\/3 innings with 14 strikeouts and six walks. His path forward is in his hands\u2014he\u2019s excelled in the past by overpowering hitters with his two main pitches and a fearless approach. However, to succeed in the majors, Rocker will need to improve his command, avoid working behind in counts, and reduce the number of four-inning, 85-pitch starts.<\/p>\n

Rocker’s Spring Competing for a Spot, Like Langford in 2024<\/h3>\n

General manager Chris Young was asked by Evan Grant of The Dallas Morning News to compare Rocker\u2019s situation this spring to Wyatt Langford\u2019s in 2024. While Langford seemed poised to make the team from the start of camp, momentum appears to be building in a similar way for Rocker.<\/p>\n

Young acknowledged the differences between the two situations but didn\u2019t rule out Rocker\u2019s chances of earning a spot in the Opening Day rotation. Despite having deGrom, Mahle, Bradford Nathan Eovaldi and Jon Gray in the mix, the Rangers have no plans to implement a six-man rotation.<\/p>\n

“I think our pitching options are significantly different than where we were with our outfield options last year,” Young said. “We are very excited about Kumar. I think he has the opportunity to make our team and we are going to see how it goes. We’ll see who’s healthy and how guys have thrown the ball. But he’s certainly one [pitcher] who is in our plans. Can’t tell you exactly how, at this point.”<\/p>\n

Rocker doesn\u2019t project to make the Rangers’ rotation if the five starters ahead of him are healthy, predicts Kennedi Landry of MLB.com<\/a>. With deGrom, Gray, Bradford and Mahle all healthy, Landry expects Rocker to begin the season at Triple-A as a depth option. However, those five starters may not stay healthy between now and Opening Day, and Rocker has nothing left to prove in the minors. He’ll likely make the majority of his 2025 appearances in the majors.<\/p>\n

Main Photo: \u00a9 Steven Bisig-Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With right shoulder and Tommy John surgeries behind him, Kumar Rocker showed why the Texas Rangers made him the No. 3 pick in the 2022 MLB Draft. The former Vanderbilt star reclaimed his wipeout mid-80’s slider while working with a 95-98 mph fastball that touches 100. He dominated in the minors, posting a 1.96 ERA […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3686,"featured_media":96029,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1071],"tags":[4511,6273,1644,2051,2119,1680],"class_list":["post-96019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rangers","category-mlb","tag-chad-bradford","tag-jacob-degrom","tag-jon-gray","tag-kumar-rocker","tag-nathan-eovaldi","tag-tyler-mahle"],"modified_by":"Matt Graves","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3686"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96019"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":96023,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96019\/revisions\/96023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/baseball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}